Box construction



April 1950 I H. B.LERMER 2,504,850

BOX CONSTRUCTION Filed Nov. 1, 1947' INVENTOR. 4. .5 A 5/! ME/ A T TORNEY fiatented Apr. 18,

s; extant t tled Box? essences-res- Hernian B". Iiermerfsouth Orange, N. 3., assignor to Gellupiastic}Corporation, -Newarii, N; .31, acorporation of New Jersey niiiilieatitn rittember 1, 1947, Serial No. tees-7i s c'iaiins-e (01. 220-65? This invention relates to improvements in boxes and similar 'receptacles ior' holding articles. It is old in the art to-provide body. portions of boxes with covers removably secured thereto. This has been done, for example, by providing the body portion'- witha cover-longitudinally slidable in grooves in the-body portion. structures have been found= objectionable from amanufacturing and practical standpointv Other forms of boxes with rernovable covers have likewise" been, found; objectionable j from a practical, cost and manufacturing standpoint.

The inventionhereindisclosed-provides a box with-a cover removably ksecured to the body portioh'thereof, .said boxbeingmfl novehvefiicient and practical structuret and lending itself readily' to 'man'ufacture at'ilowaicosh These and other advantageous objects, which will appear from the drawings and from the description hereinafter, are accomplished by the structure of my invention of which one embodiment is illustrated in the drawings. It will be apparent from a consideration of said drawings and the following description, that the invention may be embodied in other forms suggested thereby, and such other forms as come within the scope of the appended claims are to be considered within the scope and purview of the instant invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a perspective View of the cover of the box of my invention, taken from the underside thereof,

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the body portion of the box of my invention,

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the box in closed condition, and

Fig. 4 is a transverse, vertical, sectional view, taken on line 44 of Fig. 3, and showing the manner in which the box cover may be grasped to remove the same from the body portion.

As shown in the drawings, the box It comprises a body portion ll having spaced, parallel, side walls I! and I3, end walls I4 and I5, and bottom wall It. The side walls are provided with medially recessed or inwardly oiT-set portions H, H} for a purpose presently explained. The body portion H and cover 2| are provided with cornplementary interlatching means l9 and 29 resnectively. Said means may comprise any desired or convenient interlatching members which will separate upon movement of the cover away from the body'portion. In the form shown in the drawings, said interlatching means comprises studs 20 or the like provided on the cover ore 56 body for registry with recessed portions tpro-' sided on the other member of saidhox; Thus,

when'the cover is positioned upon the boxand pressed downwardly; said projections 22'; will snap into recesses i9 and interlock the partsr In'the form shown in thedrawings, the cover 24 is provided with depending flanges or register-' ing rails 22, zt'spaoed'inwardly or" the margin of the cover, said rails being provit ed-with the projections-Ell; the-ends 22', 23' oi'said'rails being interned. Said-rails are further provided with recesses. or inwardly off-setportions 24-; 2% corresponding to therecessedor off -set portions it, dof'theside walls of the bodyportion.

The cover body portion are preferably made of a materialwhioh issufficiently' iiexiole or resilient to provide for the projections Bil-being forced downwardly along the inner faces of the side walls of the body portions until they are in registry with and snap into the recessed portions thereof. The registering rails 22, 23 facilitate the initial positioning of the cover on the body portion and the proper registry of the parts. When the box is closed, as above described, the cover is held tightly upon the body portion so as to present a unitary and neat appearance; the parts are held against accidental displacement by the interlocked studs 29 and recesses as.

The box is opened by lifting the cover from the body portion, as, for example, shown in 4, holding the body portion firmly and positioning the thumb and forefinger partly in the recesses i7 and S3 of the body portions and against the perimeter 25 of the cover, which, at medial portion or the box, overhangs the recessed portions ii, iii in the form of overhanging medial ledges 2 3. The cover is thus grasped so that it may be readily medially lifted upwardly to the position schematically indicated by the dotted line and arrow A in Fig. l, causing the projections it to earn out of the recesses iii, to open the box.

It will be apparent that the recesses and projections it may be of such number, of such form and in such location as is found convenient. The box may be made of any suitable or desired material and can be conveniently molded of transparent or translucent plastic material, if desired, to provide for economical manufacture in large quantities. The box preferably oblong but be of any suitably desirable outline, the rails 22, being of corresponding outline to that of the body portion of the box. The rails 22, 23 may be molded or otherwise formed on the cover eloid Cloisonne (cellulose acetate and methyl methacrylate); Ethofoil (ethyl cellulose); Hycoloid (cellulose nitrate); Lustron (polystyrene molding compound); etc.

If desired, the inwardly offset portions H, l8 of the body member ll may be dispensed with, the ledges 26 would in such case be extended beyond the perimeter 25 of the cover at the medial portion thereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A box comprising an oblong body portion having upstanding side and end walls, said side walls having inwardly extending medially located recessed portions constituting finger recesses, and an oblong cover for said body portion, said cover having a flat uninterrupted top portion and rails on the underside thereof, said rails being continuous along the side edges of said cover and telescopically engaging the interior of said body portion, said rails having medially located recesses complemental to the medially recessed portions of said body, said rails and body portion having cooperating complemental interlatching bosses and recesses, said cover having a continuous edge portion, the medial portion on each side edge of the cover projecting over the medial recessed portions of said body portion whereby said cover may be removed from said body portion by grasping the edges of said cover at the medially recessed portions of said body portion.

2. The construction set forth in claim 1 in which the box is rectangular and the edges of the cover being straight edges spanning said medial recessed portions.

3. The construction set forth in claim 1 in which said body portion constitutes an integral structure and in which the cover is also an integral structure, said cover having continuous rails along two side edges and along one of its ends and said ribs being interrupted at its opposite end.

HERMAN B. LERMER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 26,891 Cummings Jan. 24, 1860 1,542,115 Weis June 16, 1925 1,886,711 McLeod Nov. 8, 1932 2,141,013 Nicholson Dec. 20, 1938 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 12,222 Great Britain May 28, 1903 221 Great Britain Jan. 5, 1914 182,352 Great Britain July 6, 1922 

